I attended Robert Bolton's presentation on amateur (aka ham) radio. I was excited about this one for two reasons. First, radio is radio and I hope that in learning amateur radio I'll better understand the digital radios I use at work. Second, I've had a desire to be a ham ever since I was exposed to it as a wee little Boy Scout. I'll be taking my test in the next couple weeks, if everything goes according to plan (doesn't it always?). The one thing that came out of this presentation and excited me more than anything was that Asterisk has a radio interface (app_rpt) which you can use to create a phone patch system. I realize it's not exceptionally useful, but it does sound like a great project.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• modulation analog: AM, SSB, FM. digital: PSK, FSK, ASK, QAM. spread spectrum: DSSS, FHSS
• ke7zea
• packet radio built into linux kernel
• very slow speeds
• gordon west book on radio theory
• gpredict - satellite tracker
• aprs - gps-based location reporting
• software radio - gnu radio, universal software radio peripheral
• asterisk app_rpt
• ddwrt - can use more power w/ amateur license. call sign as ssid. no encryption.
• echolink - windows based software
• irlp - internet repeater link project